Israeli Criticism of Zionism and of Israel’s Treatment of the Palestinians: The Academics and Activists

by Edward C. Corrigan / August 21st, 2010

There are many Israeli critics of Zionism and anti-Zionist Jews in Israel where the conflict with the Palestinians is most apparent.1 In 1975 journalist Charles Glass estimated that 5 to 8 percent of Israel’s Jewish population fell into the anti‑Zionist category. Most of this opposition was of a “leftist” variety. However, Glass also stated that “they represent 50 percent of the only significant debate in the country.”2

Yeshayahu Leibowitz, the renowned scholar of Judaism and philosophy and the editor of several volumes of the Encyclopedia Hebraica had the following to say about Zionism and Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians:

The big crisis of the Jewish people is that the overwhelming majority of the Jews genuinely desire to be Jewish ‑‑ but they have no content for their Judaism other than a piece of colored rag attached to the end of a pole and a military uniform. The consciousness and the desire to be Jewish did not vanish, rather they are transformed today into a Judeo‑Nazi mentality.3

Gideon Levy, the highly regarded columnist from the Israeli daily Haaretz, has also made a comparison between Germany in the 1930’s and Israel today.

Thus comparing Germany of the 1920s and early ’30s to Israel at the start of the third millennium is not only permissible but imperative ‑ for gaining an insight into how barbarous regimes develop, grasping the differences (and there are many profound ones), and discerning the similarities, which ought to worry us.4

Another Israeli intellectual Yitzhak Laor in an article, “The soft underbelly and the victim,” published in Haaretz also makes an interesting allusion to the past.

The name of this Israeli ethos is “who are you to tell us?” We are destroying Arab East Jerusalem? Who are you to tell us that it is wrong? We killed masses of Palestinians in Gaza? Who are you to tell us anything? We have maintained a brutal dictatorship in the territories for 42 years — longer than any other military occupation of the post‑World War II era? Who are you to tell us? We’re allowed. We’re your victims. The past belongs to us. We will do as we please with it.5

Here is what Gideon Levy writes on the prevalence of racism in Israeli society:

Now that we can use the term “racism,” the time has come to admit our society is absolutely racist, that all its components are racist. The legal system, for example, is no less tainted than Petah Tikva’s Morasha school. In many cases there is one law for a Jew and another for an Arab. The Bank of Israel, a state institution no less than the Morasha school, with 900 employees, has always been “clean” of Arab employees except sometimes one or two. Some 70,000 Israeli citizens, all Arab of course, are living in unrecognized villages, without electricity or running water, without an access road and sometimes without a school. Why? Because they are Arabs. Every week at soccer matches we hear racist epithets and chants, the kind teams in Europe are severely penalized for. Here, the referees do not even bother reporting them….

And we have said nothing yet about the attitude toward foreign workers, the occupation (the greatest racist curse) nor about the attitude toward Mizrahim since the founding of the state. The list is long and shameful.6

Here are the words of Yael Lotan, another Israeli author and journalist, on the subject of racism and criticism of Israel.

It should be perfectly legitimate to criticize Israel. Giving it uncritical, unqualified support in all its actions, its violations of dozens of UN Security Council resolutions, its policy of assassination and destruction ‑ that is a racist position, a position that says “Arabs don’t count, Arabs have no rights, Arabs are vermin and whatever is done to them ‑ in Palestine, Syria, Iraq or Lebanon ‑ is legitimate. And Islam is the same as Fascism.”

There was an interesting book review published in Haaretz, on February 29, 2008, written by Tom Segev. It was a review of a book titled, When and How Was the Jewish People Invented? (published by Resling in Hebrew). It is authored by Israeli historian Shlomo Zand (also spelled Sand). Prof. Zand teaches history at Tel Aviv University. The book became a best seller in Israel.8 Segev writes:

…in one of the most fascinating and challenging books published here in a long time. There never was a Jewish people, only a Jewish religion, and the exile also never happened — hence there was no return. Zand rejects most of the stories of national‑identity formation in the Bible, including the exodus from Egypt and, most satisfactorily, the horrors of the conquest under Joshua. It’s all fiction and myth that served as an excuse for the establishment of the State of Israel, he asserts.9

This information and arguments have been around for a long time but it is interesting to see them published in one of Israel’s leading daily newspapers and presented in a best seller written by an Israeli historian.10 Segev summarizes the arguments in Zand’s book as referencing many existing studies on groups that converted to Judaism, “some of which were written in Israel but shunted out of the central discourse.” According to Segev the book describes the Jewish kingdom of Himyar in the southern Arabian Peninsula, the Jewish Berbers in North Africa, Jews in Spain that arose from the Arab conquest, and European‑born individuals who had also become Jews. Zand also discusses the large Jewish Khazar Kingdom in the Caucasus. Segev writes,

We find, then, that the members of a variety of peoples and races, blond and black, brown and yellow, became Jews in large numbers. According to Zand, the Zionist need to devise for them a shared ethnicity and historical continuity produced a long series of inventions and fictions, along with an invocation of racist theses. Some were concocted in the minds of those who conceived the Zionist movement, while others were offered as the findings of genetic studies conducted in Israel.11

It is somewhat ironic that issues and subjects that relate to the Palestinians and Zionism that are virtually taboo in North America are openly discussed in Israel. These same subjects are much more openly discussed in Europe and in the rest of the World.12

The journalist Gideon Levy wrote the following commentary on Zionism and the Israeli Left in the Israeli daily Haaretz. Can you ever imagine seeing a similar opinion piece in the mainstream North American media? Levy wrote:

And what is Zionism nowadays? An archaic and outdated concept born in a different reality, a vague and delusive concept marking the difference between the permitted and the proscribed. Does Zionism mean settlement in the territories? Occupation? The legitimization of every act of violence and injustice? The left stammered. Any statement critical of Zionism, even the Zionism of the occupation, was considered a taboo that the left did not dare break. The right grabbed a monopoly on Zionism, leaving the left with its self‑righteousness.

A Jewish and democratic state? The Zionist left said yes automatically, fudging the difference between the two and not daring to give either priority. Legitimization for every war? The Zionist left stammered again — yes to the beginning and no to the continuation, or something like that. Solving the refugee problem and the right of return? Acknowledgment of the wrongdoing of 1948? Unmentionable. This left has now, rightly, reached the end of its road.13

One of the most prominent Israeli critics is Avi Shlaim. He is professor of international relations at Oxford University. Shlaim is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World and many other books.14 Shlaim has commented on the character of the debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in North America,

On the other side of the Atlantic, on the other hand, the public debate on the subject of Israel is much more fierce and partisan, leaving relatively little space for the dignity of difference. The passion with which many prominent American Jews defend Israel betrays an atavistic attitude of “my country, right or wrong.”15

In an article published in the International Herald Tribune the Oxford professor addressed the question, “Is Zionism today the real enemy of the Jews?” His answer was Yes:

Sharon’s government is waging a savage war against the Palestinian people. Its policies include the confiscation of land; the demolition of houses; the uprooting of trees; curfews, roadblocks and 736 checkpoints that inflict horrendous hardships; the systematic abuse of Palestinian human rights; and the building of the illegal wall on the West Bank, a wall that is as much about land‑grabbing as it is about security.

It is this brand of cruel Zionism that is the real enemy of what remains of liberal Israel and of the Jews outside Israel. It is the enemy because it fuels the flames of virulent and sometimes violent anti‑Semitism. Israel’s policies are the cause; hatred of Israel and anti‑Semitism are the consequences …

Israel’s image today is negative not because it is a Jewish state but because it habitually transgresses the norms of acceptable international behavior. Indeed, Israel is increasingly perceived as a rogue state, as an international pariah, and as a threat to world peace.

This perception of Israel is a major factor in the recent resurgence of anti‑Semitism in Europe and in the rest of the world. In this sense, Zionism today is the real enemy of the Jews. It is a tragedy that a state that was built as a haven for the Jewish people after the Holocaust is now one of the least safe places on earth for Jews to live in. Israel ought to withdraw from the occupied territories not as a favor to the Palestinians but as a favor to itself and to world Jewry for, as Karl Marx noted, “a people that oppresses another cannot itself remain free.”16

After Israel launched its attack on Gaza on December 27, 2009 Shlaim published the following statement criticizing Israel’s actions.

The only way to make sense of Israel’s senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials bitterly resented American partisanship on behalf of the infant state. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by “an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders”. I used to think that this judgment was too harsh but Israel’s vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the Bush administration’s complicity in this assault, have reopened the question….

This brief review of Israel’s record over the past four decades makes it difficult to resist the conclusion that it has become a rogue state with “an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders”. A rogue state habitually violates international law, possesses weapons of mass destruction and practises terrorism — the use of violence against civilians for political purposes. Israel fulfils all of these three criteria; the cap fits and it must wear it. Israel’s real aim is not peaceful coexistence with its Palestinian neighbours but military domination. It keeps compounding the mistakes of the past with new and more disastrous ones. Politicians, like everyone else, are of course free to repeat the lies and mistakes of the past. But it is not mandatory to do so.17

Many other Israelis also protested the Israeli assault on Gaza. For example there is a letter from 22 prominent Israelis who published an appeal in The Guardian. They wrote:

We, as Israeli citizens, raise our voices to call on EU leaders: use sanctions against Israel’s brutal policies and join the active protests of Bolivia and Venezuela. We appeal to the citizens of Europe: please attend to the Palestinian Human Rights Organisation’s call, supported by more than 540 Israeli citizens (www.freegaza.org/en/home/): boycott Israeli goods and Israeli institutions; follow resolutions such as those made by the cities of Athens, Birmingham and Cambridge (US). This is the only road left. Help us all, please!”18

Judge Richard Goldstone’s UN Commission of Inquiry which investigated the December 27, 2008 Israeli attack on Gaza and the Palestinian response made a number of findings that were critical of both Israel and Hamas. As reported in the New York Times, when, “Asked about accusations that he was anti‑Israel,” Judge Goldstone acknowledged he was Jewish and said, “It is grossly wrong to label a mission or to label a report critical of Israel as being anti‑Israel.”19 While the UN Commission of Inquiry was widely attacked in Israel there were a number of Israelis who supported its critical findings.20

One of the most outspoken and courageous Israeli journalists is Amira Hass. Since 2000, Amira Hass has been the only Jewish Israeli reporter living in Occupied Palestine — formerly in Gaza City, and now based out of Ramallah. She is a correspondent for the Israeli daily Haaretz.21

There are many Israeli academics and intellectuals who are extremely critical of Zionism and of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.22 To quote a study published by a group affiliated with the Israel Academia Monitor:

…The opinions and claims of Israel academics against Jews, Zionism and Israel are discussed and analyzed in this study. It is estimated that some 20 to 25% of people who teach the Humanities and Social Sciences in Israel’s universities and colleges have expressed extreme anti‑Zionist positions, largely, though not exclusively, in regard to Israel’s policies and actions vis‑à‑vis the Arab Palestinians … 23

The fact is that many Israelis academics and activists have voiced strong criticism of Zionism and Israeli state policy toward the Palestinians.

Other critical voices from Israel’s academia and activists circles include the late Professor Israel Shahak former Chair of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights;24 the late Baruch Kimmerling, Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Hebrew University of Jerusalem;25 retired Anthropology professor Jeff Halper now head of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions;26 Tel Aviv University professor Gary Sussman;27 Felica Langer, a well known human rights lawyer who left Israel and now resides in Germany;28 Michael Warschawski, co-founder of the Alternative Information Center;29 Eitan Bronstein Chair of Zochrot, which means “Remember,” and works to remind Israelis about the Nakba or Palestinian catastrophe;30 the late linguist and journalist Tanya Reinhart, Professor of theoretical linguistics and Media and Cultural Studies at Tel Aviv University and at the University of Utrecht;31 the late Victoria Buch professor at Hebrew University;32 Avi Kleinberg, professor of History at Tel Aviv University;33 Dr. Yossi Dahan, Chair of the Adva Centre, manager of the Human Rights Division at the Academic College of Law in Ramat Gan, and an editor of Ha’Oketz;34 author Gershom Gorenberg;35 Sammy Smooha a sociologist who served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Haifa;36 Yossi Swartz professor at the Tel Aviv University Law School;37 Allegra Pacheco, an Israeli human rights attorney, noted for prosecuting the first Israeli torture trial;38 Rabbi Arik Ascherman, head of Rabbis for Human Rights;39 Hannah Mermelstein, co‑founder and co‑director of Birthright Unplugged;40 Carlo Strenger, professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University;41 Oren Yiftachel, Geography professor Ben-Gurion University;42 New Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe, presently the Chair of the History Department at the University of Essex in England, and formerly of history department of the University of Haifa in Israel;43 world renown author Jacobo Timerman;44 Neve Gordon Chair of the Political Science Department at Ben-Gurion University;45 Avraham Oz, associate professor of theater at the University of Haifa;46 Dror Etkes, who headed Peace Now’s Settlements Watch Project for five years and now heads the Land Advocacy Project of Yesh Din, a group working against violation of Palestinians’ rights by settlers;47 Erik Schechter, the former military correspondent for The Jerusalem Post;48 Yosefa Loshitzky, Professor of Film, Media and Cultural Studies at the University of East London;49 Yacov Ben Efrat of Challenge Magazine;50 Amos Oz, who Steven Plaut describes as “arguably Israel’s best‑known writer;”51 and another famous Israeli writer with an international reputation, A.B. Yehoshua;52 Tikva Honig-Parnass, editor of Between the Lines;53 author and journalist Amnon Kapeliouk;54 Oren Ben-Dor, professor of Legal and Political Philosophy at the School of Law, University of Southampton, UK;55 Amia Lieblich, professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of numerous books on the psychology of Israeli society including Tin Soldiers on Jerusalem Beach;56Haaretz columnist Nehema Shtrasler;57 Israeli‑American human rights lawyer Sari Bashi;58 Adam Atsan an Israeli‑American who is involved in Kesher Enoshi: Progressives For Activism in Israel;59 author Akiva Orr;60 David Newman, professor of political geography at Ben‑Gurion University and editor of the International journal, Geopolitics;61 author Susan Nathan;62 author and journalist Yael Lotan;63 Israeli Television correspondent Yigal Laviv;64 professor of political science at Tel Aviv university Ze’ev Maoz;65Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken;66Haaretz editor Danny Rubinstein;67 and Yitzhak Laor, one of Israel’s most distinguished poets, novelists and a longtime editor and writer for the daily newspaper Haaretz, who also edits an independent journal of literature and political thought, Mita’am;68 Adi Opir professor of philosophy at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University and also a fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute;69 Akiva Eldar, Israeli journalist and author, currently chief political columnist and editorial writer for Haaretz;70 journalist Meron Rapoport;71 an orthodox Jewish studies professor who writes under the nom de plume of Jeremiah (Jerry) Haber and runs the Magnes Zionist blog;72 B. Michael one of Israel’s most respected journalists who until recently with writing for Yedioth Aharonoth;73 Ran HaCohen professor at Tel Aviv University’s Department of Comparative Literature and a literary critic for the Israeli daily Yedioth Achronoth;74 journalist Shraga Elam;75 Hillel Cohen Research Fellow at the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem;76Haaretz journalist and editorial Board member Avirama Golan;77 Shai Lahav Editor of the art and culture supplement to Ma’ariv, the country’s most right‑wing newspaper;78 journalist and former IDF conscript Seth Freeman;79 Yehouda Shenhav professor at Tel Aviv University and the editor of Theory Criticism, an Israeli journal in the area of critical theory and cultural studies;80 Eyal Sivan, one of Israel’s leading film makers;81 Elana Maryles Sztokman, author, educator, writer, researcher and regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post;82 Adam Keller journalist and a founder of The Other Israel;83 and Gideon Spiro, a former Israeli Sergeant and journalist;84 Israeli Professor Ada Yonath 2009 Nobel Prize winner for chemistry;85 to name only a few of the many Israelis who are anti-Zionist, non-Zionist or extremely critical of Zionism and Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.86

Occupation Magazine which is published by a group of anti-Occupation Israelis has an archive of over 36,000 articles, many written by anti-occupation Israelis and Jews from around the world. It also provides links to dozens of Israeli human rights organizations, many not listed in this article. These Israeli human rights organizations include B’Tselem,87Machsom Watch, Rabbis for Human Rights,88 and The Israeli Public Committee Against Torture,89Yesh Gvul, the movement for soldiers of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories,90 and Refusniks, young Israelis who refuse to serve in the Israeli military.91

For a collection of Israeli opposition to Zionism and opposition to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians one can review The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent, edited by Roane Carey and Jonathan Shainin. It contains articles very critical of Israel’s policies, written by 27 prominent Israelis. The Forward was written by a prominent Israeli author and journalist Tom Segev.92

The list of writers in The Other Israel include Ami Ayalon, former head of Israel’s General Security Service or Shin Bet; Yigal Bonner professor at Tel Aviv University; author David Grossman; Aviv Lavie Haaretz media reporter; attorney Shamai Leibowitz; Ishai Menuchin, a major in the Israeli Defense Forces Reserves and head of Yesh Gvul (the Israelis organization of selective refusal); Dr. Yigal Shocat former Surgeon General for the Israeli Airforce; Gila Svirsky chair of B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories; and Sergio Yahni co-director of the Alternative Information Centre, among others already cited in this article.93

There is a growing concern amongst some Israelis that there is a growing rift between diaspora Jews and Israeli Jews. Professor Yehezkel Dror, the founding president of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (JPPPI), “offered a somber take on relations between Israel and Diaspora Jewry” and pointed “the finger of blame at Israel’s leadership for the growing rift between the two.” Professor Dror stated that, “There is no ignoring the fact … that at the heart of the rift between Israel and Jewish communities abroad lies the notion that Diaspora youth have a negative views of Israel politically, nationally and socially.”94

Gideon Levy in an interview with Mario Vargas Llosa, the prize‑winning Peruvian writer and a laureate of the prestigious Jerusalem Prize, published in Haaretz quoted the distinguished author saying that “only the dissidents will save the State of Israel.”95

For a somewhat critical review of the book see, “Jewish History Inventing an invention,” by Israel Bartal, Haaretz, July 2, 2008. It is interesting that this author also confirms many of the facts listed by Zand but contests the claim that this information was deliberately hidden as a way to promote the development of the concept of a common “national” origin of the Jewish people. [↩]

For example see, “Across West Bank daily tragedies go unseen,” by Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, April 27, 2002; “New Israeli Scholars Face up to Israel’s Origins,” by Eric Rouleau and “Are the Jews an Invented People” by Eric Rouleau, Le Monde diplomatique, 10 May, 2008; “Israel’s Lies,” by Henry Siegman, London Review of Books, January 29, 2009; “A crisis in Judaism: For many Jews today, Israel is not a normal state — it is a cause or ideal, and therein lies the problem,” by Brian Klug, The Guardian, January 15, 2009; “Israel’s war crimes,” by Richard Falk, Le Monde diplomatique, English edition, March, 2009; “Gaza, One More Bantustan: Palestine the view from South Africa,” by Alain Gresh, Le Monde diplomatique, English edition, August, 2009, pp. 4‑5; “Israel’s state sponsored injustice,” by Seth Freedman, The Guardian, August 17, 2009; and “Israel’s culture of impunity,” by Sharon Weill, Le Monde diplomatique, September 2009. [↩]

“Does Zionism legitimize every act of violence,” by Gideon Levy, Haaretz, February 12, 2009. For a similar opinion see, “Who is a terrorist?,” by Gideon Levy, Haaretz, April 16, 2006; and “Someone must stop Israel’s rampant madness in Gaza,” by Gideon Levy, Haaretz, January 16, 2009. [↩]

Among his books are Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 2001); and (as co-editor) The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001). His most recent book is Lion of Jordan: the Life of King Hussein in War and Peace, (London: Allan Lane/Penguin, 2007). [↩]

“Is Zionism today the real enemy of the Jews: Yes,” by Avi Shlaim, International Herald Tribune, February 4, 2005. [↩]

“How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe,” by Avi Shlaim, The Guardian, January 7, 2009. [↩]

See, “Words and deeds in the Middle East,” The Guardian, January 17, 2009. [↩]

“Inquiry Finds Gaza War Crimes From Both Sides,” by Neil Macfarquhar, New York Times, September 15, 2009. [↩]

For an opinion article critical of Goldstone’s findings see, “Goldstone report unfair to Israel,” by Jeremy Sharon, Los Angeles Times, September 18, 2009. Jeremy Sharon is a researcher and writer based in Jerusalem. He has worked at a number of Israeli think tanks and served in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. See also “Disgrace in The Hague,” by Gideon Levy, Haaretz, September 17, 2009. For a discussion of articles published in the Israeli press supporting Judge Goldstone see “The Goldstone Report and the Debate in Israel, ” by Edward C. Corrigan, Dissident Voice, December 2, 2009. http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/12/the-goldstone-report-and-the-debate-in-israel/. It was also published in Occupation Magazine in Israel. [↩]

See for example her articles, “The founders of apartheid would be proud, The High Court of Justice is in no hurry,” by Amira Hass, Haaretz, Janaury 17, 2007; “Pots of urine feces on walls how IDF troops vandalized Gaza homes,” by Amira Hass, Haaretz, March 6, 2009; “Out of bounds?,” by Amira Hass, Haaretz, September 3, 2009; “Mahmoud Abbas’ chronic submissiveness,” by Amira Hass, Haaretz, October 6, 2009. Amira Hass is the Haaretz correspondent for the Occupied Territories. Born in Jerusalem in 1956, Hass joined Haaretz in 1989, and has been in her current position since 1993. As correspondent for the Territories, she has spent three years living in Gaza, which served of the basis of her widely acclaimed book, Drinking the Sea at Gaza. She has lived in the West Bank city of Ramallah since 1997. Hass is also the author of two other books, both of which are compilations of her articles. [↩]

See ALEF WATCH IsraCampus.Org “Big brother is watching, and “Monitoring Israel’s Academic Fifth Column Following anti‑Israel Extremism on the Israeli Campus.” The site lists 119 Israeli academics who are targeted by the organization and deemed to be “extreme critics.” Their web site is http://www.isracampus.org.il/index.htm. For an example an article critical of attacks made against Israeli academic’s who are opposed to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians see, “A McCarthyite attempt to brand academics,” by Lily Galili, Haaretz, November 30, 2007. [↩]

Israel Shahak, “The Racist Nature of Zionism and the Zionistic State of Israel,” The Link, Winter 1975‑1976; and also Israel Shahak Jewish History, Jewish Religion, (London: Pluto Press, 1994); Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, 2nd ed. (London: Pluto Press, 2003). For an example of the work of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights see Report on the Violation of Human Rights in the Territories during the Uprising, 1988, (Tel Aviv: The Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, 1988). For a more recent report see “Civil rights group: Israel has reached new heights of racism,” by Yuval Yoaz and Jack Khoury, Haaretz, December 9, 2007. [↩]

“Sale of JNF land to Jews only is blatant discrimination that must be stopped,” by Avi Kleinberg, YNet News, September 26, 2007; “Nation of citations,” Aviad Kleinberg disturbed by citations given to IDF soldiers for avoiding innocent casualties,” by Aviad Kleinberg, YNet News, April 7, 2009. [↩]

See IsraCampus.org.il and “Subversive Organizations” and Forbidden Words,” by Yossi Dahan, Ha’Oketz, July 20, 2005, reprinted in Occupation Magazine, June 23, 2005; “Invasion of the Settlers,” by Dr. Yossi Dahan, Ma`ariv/NRG, July 31, 2005 reprinted in Occupation Magazine, August 1, 2005. [↩]

“The collapse began today,” by Gershom Gorenberg, Haaretz, July 15, 2008. Gershom Gorenberg is the author of The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977. He blogs at southjerusalem.com. See also “The War to Begin All Wars,” by Gershom Gorenberg, New York Review of Books, Volume 56 Number 9, May 28, 2009. See also “Settling for Radicalism : How the Israeli government has fostered religious extremism and fractured its own democracy,” by Gershom Gorenberg, The American Prospect, June 15, 2009. [↩]

Sammy Smooha, author of Israel: Pluralism and Conflict, (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978); The Orientation and Politicization of the Arab Minority in Israel, (Haifa: The Jewish‑Arab Center, University of Haifa, 1984); Arabs and Jews in Israel. Vol. 1: Conflicting and Shared Attitudes in a Divided Society, (Boulder and London: Westview Press, 1989); and Arabs and Jews in Israel. Vol. 2: Change and Continuity in Mutual Intolerance, (Boulder and London: Westview Press, 1992). [↩]

“Tired but Satisfied Israels Strategies in the Demographic War Against the Palestinians from 1948 to the Present,” by Yossi Schwartz, Alternative Information Center (AIC), October 7, 2008. [↩]

“Closure and Apartheid: Eight Years of “Peace” through Separation,” by Allegra Pacheco, Media Monitors Network, February 15, 2001. Allegra Pacheco, an Israeli human rights attorney practicing in Bethlehem, is a founder of the Freedom of Movement Project. [↩]

“If All Rabbis Were Like Arik Ascherman, Middle East Peace Would Be Attainable,” by Pat McDonnell Twair, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October 2001, page 15. [↩]

“The end of Israel,” by Hannah Mermelstein, The Electronic Intifada, December 19, 2007; see also, “This land was theirs,” by Hannah Mermelstein, The Jewish Advocate (Boston), March 22, 2008. Hannah Mermelstein is co‑founder and co‑director of Birthright Unplugged, which takes mostly Jewish North American people into the West Bank to meet with Palestinian people and to equip them to return to their own communities and work for justice; and takes Palestinian children from refugee camps to Jerusalem, the sea, and the villages their grandparents fled in 1948, and supports them to document their experiences and create photography exhibits to share with their communities and with the world. [↩]

“On the way to a pariah state,” by Carlo Strenger, Haaretz, September 25, 2007; “Zionism? Post‑Zionism? Just give arguments,” by Carlo Strenger, Haaretz, December 20, 2007; and “I accuse,” by Carlo Strenger, Haaretz, September 29, 2008. [↩]

Oren Yiftachel, “The Jailer State,” New Matilida.com, January 12, 2009, republished in Jewish Peace News, January 17, 2009. Professor Oren Yiftachel teaches political geography and urban planning at Ben‑Gurion University, Beersheba. Yiftachel has written extensively on the political geography of ethnic conflict. Among his books are: Ethnocracy: Land and Identity Politics in Israel/Palestine, (2006, Penn Press), and Israelis in Conflict, ed. (Sussex Academic Press, 2004). He is an occasional contributor to Israel’s leading newspapers Haaretz and YNet News. Yiftachel is an active member in several peace and civil society organizations, including B’tselem, the Bedouin Council of Unrecognized Villages, Adva and is a founding member of Faculty for Israel‑ Palestine Peace (FFIPP). [↩]

Ilan Pappe, Britain and the Arab‑Israeli Conflict, 1948‑51, (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1988); and The Making of the Arab‑Israeli Conflict, 1947‑1951, (London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 1994). [↩]

Jacobo Timerman, The Longest War: Israel in Lebanon, translated by Miguel Acoca, (New York: Vintage Books, 1982). He is the author of the best selling book Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number. [↩]

“A state of all its citizens,” by Neve Gordon, The Guardian, April 20, 2007. See also, “Boycott Israel: An Israeli comes to the painful conclusion that it’s the only way to save his country,” by Neve Gordon, Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2009. For the reaction this opinion piece evoked see, “Hysteria follows LA Times op-ed,” MuzzleWatch http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2009/08/23/hysteria‑follows‑la‑times‑op‑ed/. See also “Education Minister slams Israeli lecturer’s ‘apartheid’ op‑ed,” by Barak Ravid, Haaretz, Correspondent and Haaretz Services, Haaretz, August 23, 2009. For a balanced article see “University urges lecturer who endorsed boycott to resign,” by Ilana Curiel, YNet News, August 28, 2009. For an Israel academic opinion in support of Gordon see, “Israeli academics must pay the price to end occupation,” by Anat Matar, Haaretz, August 27, 2009. See also letter from the Middle East Studies Association Committee on Academic Freedom in Support of Professor Neve Gordon, dated August 27, 2009. See also “Ben-Gurion U. Debates Cost of Academic Freedom,” by Nathan Jeffay, The Forward, September 11, 2009. [↩]

See IsraCampus.org.il and see “How much blood should be spilled in vain?,” by Avraham Oz, Occupation Magazine, August 23, 2005; “This is my country. As it is commonly known, “the only democracy in the Middle East,” by Avraham Oz, Occupation Magazine, September 20, 2005; and “Toughts of an Israeli War Resister,” by Avraham Oz, Occupation Magazine, July 25, 2006. [↩]

“JNF’s blatant hypocrisy: Why can JNF land be leased to non‑Jewish immigrants, but not to Arabs?,” by Dror Etkes, YNet News, October 4, 2007. [↩]

“Say goodbye to the JNF,” by Erik Schechter, The Jerusalem Post, August 5, 2007. The writer is the former military correspondent for The Jerusalem Post and is based in Tel Aviv. [↩]

“A Palestinian State Within Two Years,” by Yacov Ben Efrat, Challenge Magazine, August 31, 2009. Challenge Magazine is an electronic publication which “covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” [↩]

See, “Good Morning, Elijah: Amos Oz Does The Peace Tour,” by Steven Plaut, The Jewish Press, May 21, 2008; “Israel partly at fault ‑ We must assume partial blame for refugee problem in order to resolve it,” by Amos Oz, YNet News, April 29, 2007; “Amos Oz against Gaza invasion: `Ceasefire with Hamas`: “Kol Israel radio [interview], noted down [not verbatim] by Adam Keller, February. 12, 2008, interview on the occasion of Amos Oz receiving the Dan David Prize,” published in Occupation Magazine, February 12, 2008; and “Don’t march into Gaza,” by Amos Oz, YNet News, February 13, 2008. [↩]

See for example “Separating Religion from National Identity Interview with Avraham B.Yehoshua: How the link between religion and nationality is unhealthy and immoral, and why nationality cannot depend on religion,” Palestine-Israel Journal, Vol. 8, No 4, 2001 and Vol. 9, No 1, 2002; “A.B. Yehoshua: Bush should recall ambassador until outposts dismantled Israeli novelist says Israel deceiving international community into focusing solely on illegal outposts, thus legitimizing settlement enterprise,” by Menachem Gantz, YNet News, January 20, 2008; see also “An open letter to Gideon Levy,” by A.B. Yehoshua, Haaretz, January 16, 2009; and reply “An open response to A.B. Yehoshua,” by Gideon Levy, Haaretz, January 18, 2009; and “Lend an Ear to Breaking the Silence,” by A. B. Yehoshua, Yedioth Ahronoth, July 21, 2009. [↩]

See “Israeli Writer‑Activist Tikva Honig‑Parnass, Who Fought for Israel’s Founding in 1948, on 60 Years of Palestinian Dispossession and Occupation,” Amy Goodman Interview, Democracy Now, May 16, 2008. Between the Lines address is P.O. Box 681, Jerusalem, Israel. [↩]

See Sabra & Shatila, inquiry into a massacre, by Amnon Kapeliouk, (Belmont, Mass: Association of Arab‑American University Graduates, 1984); “The changing pattern of Israeli immigration,” by Amnon Kapeliouk, Le Monde diplomatique, November 1997; and “The Sharon plan Gaza: why Israel wants to leave;” by Amnon Kapeliouk, Le Monde diplomatique, December 2004; “Israel’s failed invasion,” by Amnon Kapeliouk, Le Monde diplomatique, September 4, 2006; also see “Israel: an army in power: Israel’s army no longer represents the Israeli people (religious exemptions have narrowed its conscript basis), while the people have lost confidence in the army. It has grown used to being an army of occupation and a police force for the settler movement, not to fighting wars – especially unwarranted wars,” by Amnon Kapeliouk, Le Monde diplomatique, November 2007; also see “A Fearless Israeli Journalist: Remembering Amnon Kapeliouk,” by Franklin Lamb, CounterPunch, July 1, 2009. [↩]

“The Root Causes of Tragedy: The Ethical and Legal Challenges Facing Palestine,” by Oren Ben‑Dor, CounterPunch, December 15, 2005; “Israeli Apartheid is the Core of the Crisis,” by Oren Ben‑Dor, CounterPunch, June 23 / 24, 2007; “Despite It’s Military Might Israel is a Weak and Dying State: The Self Defense of Suicide,” by Oren Ben‑Dor, CounterPunch, January 1, 2009. His latest book, Thinking About Law: In Silence with Heidegger, was published in 2007 by Hart Publishing. [↩]

“Sign of a society losing its mind,” by Amia Lieblich, Haaretz, June 30, 2007. Prof. Amia Lieblich’s book, Yaldey kfar etzion (“The Children of Kfar Etzion”) was published by Keter and the University of Haifa (in Hebrew). [↩]

See, “How Israel’s gung‑ho leaders turned victory into calamity: Our government, in its desperation to outgun its predecessor, spurned a glorious chance to come out of this with honour,” by Nehemia Shtrasler, The Guardian, August 3, 2006; ” So what have we done to them,” by Nehemia Shtrasler, Haaretz, December 19, 2007. [↩]

See “Amid broad Israeli support for Gaza war a rare dissenting voice,” by Joshua Mitnick, Christian Science Monitor, January 16, 2009. [↩]

“Coming Face To Face With Israeli Racism,” by Adam Astan, Mondoweiss, 3 August, 2009. Astan is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. [↩]

Akiva Orr, The unJewish State, (London: Ithaca Press, 1983) and Akiva Orr, Israel: Politics, Myths and Identity Crisis, (London and Boulder, CO: Pluto Press, 1994). Akiva was born in Berlin in 1931 and immigrated to Palestine with his family in 1934, growing up in Tel Aviv. He served in the Israeli Navy in 1948 and after the war studied mathematics and physics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In the early 1950s, he became critical of Zionism, joining the Israeli Communist Party in 1953. However, in 1962, he broke from the party and jointly founded the anti‑Zionist Israeli organization Matzpen. He has written several other books including The Other Israel: The Radical Case Against Zionism and the Direct Democracy Manifesto. [↩]

See “Israel’s democracy and its Arab population,” by David Newman, The Jerusalem Post, October 5, 2009. [↩]

Susan Nathan, The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide, (New York and London: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2005); see also “Author no longer ‘in love with the Zionist narrative,'” by Deaglan de Breadun, Irish Times, July 28, 2005. [↩]

“You are terrorists, we are virtuous,” by Yitzhak Laor, London Review of Books, Vol. 28, No. 16, August 17, 2006; “Democracy for Jews only,” by Yitzhak Laor, Haaretz, May 30, 2007; see also, “A history of discrimination,” by Yitzhak Laor, Haaretz, May 27, 2009. Yitzhak Laor, is an Israeli poet, author, and journalist. He was born in Pardes Hanna, Israel in 1948. He is the author of five poetry books, 19 novels, plays, and article collections. He is mostly known for his poetry of political protest, particularly about the Lebanese War of 1982 and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In his poem, “In a Village whose Name I don’t even know,” he imagines himself stranded in a Lebanese village: “For a moment I hoped that I would be caught.” He has published several collections of poetry, as well as short stories, essays, a play and two novels. His book The Myths of Liberal Zionism was published in English by Verso Books in February 2009. [↩]

See for example, “Palestinian state is not synonym for terrorist entity,” by Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, August 17, 2009. See also “U.S. is blind to limits of Palestinian politics,” by Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, September 14, 2009. Eldar’s columns also appear regularly in the Haaretz‑International Herald Tribune edition, as well as in the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun. He has lectured at the School of Journalism in Tel Aviv University and is also a consultant at CBS News. Eldar graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he majored in Economics, Political Science and Psychology. After that he served as spokesperson for former Mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek. Then he was reporter and editor at the Israeli Public Radio. Eldar has been with Haaretz since 1978, in 1983‑1993 he was the diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz. In 1993‑1996 he served as Haaretz United States Bureau Chief and Washington, D.C. correspondent, covering the peace process, Israel‑United States relations, American issues and Israel‑Diaspora relations. He was a special consultant to Abba Eban’s PBS television documentaries on the history of Israel and the Oslo accords. In October 2007 Akiva Eldar has won the annual Eliav‑Sartawi award for Middle Eastern journalism, awarded by Search for Common Ground, an international conflict transformation organization, sharing it with Jordanian journalist Salameh Nematt. Akiva Eldar is the co‑author of the biography of Shimon Peres; he is also the co‑author (with Prof. Idith Zertal) of book Lords of the Land: The War Over Israel’s Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967‑2007, (Nation Books, 2007). [↩]

“Was 1967 a victory too far for Israel?,” by Meron Rapoport, Le Monde diplomatique, June 2007; “History Erased,” by Meron Rapoport, Haaretz, July 6, 2007; and also “Fifteen minutes of hate in Silwan,” by Meron Rapoport, The Guardian, August 31, 2009. [↩]

“Zionism without a Jewish State,” The Magnes Zionist, August 12, 2007. “Self‑Criticism from an Israeli, American, and Orthodox Jewish Perspective.” http://themagneszionist.blogspot.com The picture is not of him, but of his kind of Zionist, Judah Magnes. [↩]

“We didn t mean to kill them Israel says it doesn t mean to kill Palestinian children yet they keep on dying,” by B. Michael, YNet News, May 4, 2008; “Stop the Lying,” by B. Michael, Yedioth Aharonoth, September 5, 2008. To my knowledge this article was not published in English on Yedioth Aharonoth’s English internet site YNet News. B. Michael is one of Israel’s most respected journalists. Article was translated by George Malent and published by the Israeli peace activist publication Occupation Magazine on September 10, 2008. Here is a quote from the article. “Everybody knows they all lie. And they all lie under oath. Because that’s the procedure.” If only the North American press would report what is written in the Israeli press. However, B. Michael was later fired from Yedioth Aharonoth see “B. Michael’s last column was censored by the newspaper,” Occupation Magazine, June 7, 2009. See also “Anti occupation columnist B. Michael fired ‑ please protest to Yediot Aharonot by phone,” Occupation Magazine, June 2, 2009. See also “What about the real sins?” B. Michael, YNetNews, March 6, 2009, republished by Occupation Magazine, March 3, 2009. [↩]

“Israelis who care,” by Shai Lahav, Breaking the Silence, July 29, 2009; “With baton in hand: that`s us,” by Shai Lahav, Maariv/Middle East News Service, original in Hebrew English translation August 23, 2009 published in Occupation Magazine. [↩]

“Betraying our history,” by Seth Freedman, The Guardian, March 19, 2008; “All citizens must be equal,” by Seth Freeman, The Guardian, July 30, 2008; “Remove the blinkers and see the truth,” by Seth Freedman, The Guardian, December 17, 2008; and “How Israel drowns dissent, Firefighters turned their hoses on a peaceful anti‑war protester last week: Their attitude reflects a worrying shift in public opinion,” by Seth Freedman, The Guardian, January 21, 2009. [↩]

See “Arab Jews, Palestinian Refugees and Israel’s Folly Politics,” by Yehouda Shenhav, Sephardic Heritage Update, 13 December 2006. He is the author of The Arab Jews, (Stanford University Press, 2006). [↩]

“Racism in the name of religion,”by Elana Maryles Sztokman, The Jerusalem Post, September. 23, 2008. [↩]

See “Paving the Way to the Abyss: The Gaza War and the wall of denial,” by Adam Keller, The Other Israel, May 2009. [↩]

“The Israeli soldiers who say ‘There is a limit,'”by Gideon Spiro, Middle East International, September 9, 1988, pp. 18‑19. “Bad things happen when we are silent,” by Gideon Spiro, Red Rag Weekly, November 3, 2008, Translated and published in Occupation Magazine. See also, “Did it happen or not?,” by Gideon Spiro, Red Rag Weekly, August 24, 2009, translated and published in Occupation Magazine, August 27, 2009. [↩]

“Israeli Nobel Laureate calls for release of all Hamas prisoners,” by Haaretz Service and Army Radio, Haaretz, October 10, 2009. [↩]

See ALEF WATCH IsraCampus.Org “Big brother is watching,” and “Monitoring Israel’s Academic Fifth Column Following anti‑Israel Extremism on the Israeli Campus.” The site lists 119 Israeli academics who are targeted by the organization and deemed to be “extreme critics.” Some of the Israeli critics I have listed are not even on their list. Isracampus web site is http://www.isracampus.org.il/index.htm. For a viewpoint criticizing the attacks against Israeli academics who criticize policies toward the Palestinians see, “A McCarthyite attempt to brand academics,” by Lily Galili, Haaretz, November 30, 2007. For more examples of writings see for example, “The Strategy Behind Israel’s Migrant Labor Policies,” by Yonatan Preminger, CounterPunch, August 20, 2009; and also see Michael Jansen, Dissonance in Zion, (New Jersey: Zed Books, 1987); see also “Key Zionist pioneer renounces Zionism,” by Helena Cobban, ‘Just World News‘, August 4, 2009. Also see also “Israel’s Own Psyche,” by Uri Avnery, Kaaleji Times, August 11, 2009. [↩]

See, “One Big Prison: Freedom of Movement to and from the Gaza Strip on the Eve of the Disengagement Plan,” B’Tselem Report, March , 2005; and “Utterly Forbidden: The Torture and Ill-treatment of Palestinian Detainees,” B’Tselem Report, April 2007. “Beating & Abuse: B’Tselem and ACRI demand investigation of officers who testified to a policy of routine use of violence against Palestinian civilians,” B’Tselem, May 21, 2009. [↩]

“Counterpoint: Rabbis for Human Rights the 20th anniversary,” by David Forman, The Jerusalem Post, August 28, 2008; “Rabbis call for immediate truce in Gaza: Dozens of members of Rabbis for Human Rights organization issue letter urging all those involved in fighting to work for immediate, comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza Strip, southern Israel. ‘The sanctity of life is a supreme value in Jewish tradition,’ letter says,” by Yaheli Moran Zelikovich, YNet News, January 13, 2009; “Authors Oz, Grossman sign petition calling for external probe of Gaza op: Following publication of soldiers’ testimonies according to which commanders in Gaza told them to shoot first and worry later, Rabbis for Human Rights calls on Netanyahu, Barak to order non‑military probe of IDF offensive,” by Tal Rabinovsky, YNet News, July 22, 2009. [↩]

“Ticking Bombs” Testimonies of Torture Victims in Israel,” Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), May, 2007. “Shackling as a Form of Torture and Abuse,” PCATI Report, June 2009.”HCJ: Using threats, false promises and false presentations relating to the welfare of relatives of interrogees is prohibited,” PCATI Report, September 9, 2009. For examples of major articles published in Israeli media based on PCATI work see “Gazans detained in ‘giant pit’ during Cast Lead,” by Amira Hass, Haaretz, August 15, 2009; and “Out of bounds?,” by Amira Hass, Haaretz, September 3, 2009. [↩]

2 comments on this article so far ...

It is heartening to see the large number of distinguished Jewish intellectuals in Israel and abroad, who have the courage and principled commitment to tell it as it is, as well-documented here by Ed Corrigan.

One of this distinguished critics of Zionism is the late Professor Israel Shahak who spoke eloquently and consistently about the crimes that Zionism was committing against the Palestinian people. In reference to Zionism and racism, The late Professor Israel Shahak, a Holocaust survivor and the then Chairperson of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, summed it up accurately in his statement: ” It is my considered opinion that the state of Israel is a racist state in the full meaning of this term. In this state, people are discriminated against, in the most permanent and legal way and in the most important areas of life, only because of their origin. This racist discrimination began in Zionism and is carried today mainly in cooperation with the institutions of the Zionist movement.”{“The Racist Nature of Zionism and of the Zionist State of Israel”, article published in Pi-Ha’aton, the weekly newspaper of the students of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Nov.5, 1975}.

Jews have always been persecuted. Israel continuously provides evidence of the causal Jewish behavior. Did German Jews acquire disproportionate media, financial and political control as they have in the United States? Did they then collectively act to the detriment of Germany and thereby precipitate the Holocaust? America’s multiple and continuing mid east wars have all been initiated with the urging of AIPAC, the Conference of Presidents, and other Israeli agencies. All have benefited Israel at our expense. American Jews were central to, and grossly enriched by, the Wall Street obscenity. Israel is a Jewish state, a racist apartheid state by, of, and for the chosen people. It feigns and exploits alliance, but an ally Israel will never be.